Skateboarding has two fully defined and differentiated dimensions: cultural and sporting. As for the first, there lies something that goes far beyond riding a skateboard and performing ‘tricks’. It is an activity that was born at the end of the 60s in California and that serves as a link for an urban movement that spread from the US to the rest of the world, with different aspects that have to do with fashion, music, urban painting, photography, illustration…
However, the Olympic movement, in its idea of rejuvenating the potential audience of the Games, turned its gaze towards this discipline, which already had its own infrastructure, brands, sponsors, competitions… But its inclusion also benefited to certain young athletes who saw their passion supported in the form of scholarships, support and visibility.
The old guard who had grown up and made skateboarding grow on the street didn’t find sense in the ‘Olympism’ of skateboarding at first. “The Games need skateboarding more than skateboarding needs the Games”, they said… But the approval of legends like Tony Hawk, the media popularity of some Olympic figures and the success of the first edition in Tokyo have made skateboarding has landed at the Olympic event to stay… without this implying betraying its more than half a century of history on the street.